Breathe Again (10 page)

The shrill of my phone barreled through the air, and both Sav and I jumped. Who the hell was calling me at this time? ‘Security’ flashed on the screen and I cursed under my breath. “I have to take this.” I held up my phone. “We aren’t finished here though Sav so get ready for me.”

After walking through the apartment in complete darkness after being on the phone for twenty minutes while someone walked through Red Velvet and found nothing, my frustration levels were through the roof and all I wanted was to be in bed. As I stepped through the bedroom doors, I sighed at the sight before me. Savannah lay curled up on my side of the bed, back to hugging my pillow and being sound asleep. She hadn’t dressed and was wearing her panties, the rest of her body exposed. I laughed softly to myself and undressed, slipping in beside her.

She rolled towards me and snuggled in close to my chest. “I fell asleep,” she muttered against my skin.

I wrapped my arm around her. “Go back to sleep.”

Lifting her head from my chest, she opened her eyes and gazed at me. “I love you, Mr. Connors.”

And at that moment, I knew she would definitely become Mrs. Connors one day.

Savannah

M
Y BODY
was his temple, and boy, was I enjoying every second of it. After the events of the night before and then him finally allowing me to satisfy him in the early hours of this morning, I was ready to take on whatever Chelsea could throw at me today. Even though he wasn’t going to be with me, I sure as hell made it so I could feel him deep within me, and now my body was deliciously achy in all the right places.

Pulling a brush through my hair, I looked in the mirror and smiled at Tate as his body filled the bathroom behind me. His hair was all over the place, his eyes puffy from sleep, and the stubble I adored graced his perfect jaw. The man was pure sex.

“Hey.” He kissed my shoulder softly, his arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me close to his chest as he nuzzled his face into my neck.

“Will you be at the club today?” I asked, softly knowing that I had requested Jack run the event.

“I’ll be locked away in my office with a pile of paperwork.” He kissed my jaw before nibbing on my ear. “But I’ll leave the door open for you.”

“I’m working today, remember?”

“A woman needs to have a break though, especially one carrying my prized cargo.”

I laughed and fumbled through my makeup bag, looking for my favorite lip gloss and bronzer. Tate stayed glued to me, watching me in the mirror. “Are you going to stand there and watch me?” He simply nodded with a cheeky grin. “You could be making me vegemite, avocado, and cheese on toast for breakfast. You know, the person carrying your prized cargo is hungry.”

His hands flew off my hips in protest as he began to violently shaking his head. “There is no way in hell I am going anywhere near that devil’s food. I still have nightmares about the taste.”

“I hope your son or daughter loves it and asks you to make it for them all the time.”

“You, Savannah Rae, are an evil bitch.” He winked at me as a short laugh escaped his throat.

“I may be an evil bitch, but god I rocked your world this morning.”

“Oh, and you are cocky.” He took a step towards the shower before looking back at me. “Yes you did rock my world. Pregnancy certainly is befitting of you and your pussy.”

My mouth dropped open in shock at his blatant honesty. “Tate!”

“Savannah!” Tate mocked.

We stared at each other in amusement as I desperately tried to stop the smile that was pulling and begging to be unleashed on my lips. Tate’s unique way with words was what legends were made of. I knew his stubborn arse wouldn’t break our gaze and I knew I would be late for work if I didn’t give in. Damn it.

I dropped my eyes from his and fumbled through my makeup bag to try for a desperate distraction. “Get in the shower. You stink of sex!”

His laughter roared through the room and mine soon joined him.

“Your accent still kills me,” he purred as he put his fingers in the waist of his boxers and pulled them torturously slowly over his hips.

My attention was peaked and my eyes automatically focused on the deliciousness between his legs. I licked my lips in anticipation. I was insatiable. I couldn’t get enough of him. I knew we have a fan-fucking-tastic sex life, but as I got further into my pregnancy, my need for sex was like my need for air. I took a step towards him, still holding my mascara wand in my hand, and my panty-clad body collided with his. His eyes darkened and the familiar Tate Connors smirk filled his lips.

“Easy, tiger. You’ve got to work remember,” he teased against my lips. “And I’m definitely not a two-minute kind of guy. You know I’m at least a half-hour guy and well... You don’t have half an hour.”

“I hate you,” I whined as I pathetically ground myself into him for any relief. I would have taken two minutes right about now.

“By the look in your eyes, you certainly don’t hate me, Savannah.”

He laughed as he stepped into the shower, and soon the sound of the water running filled the bathroom.
Deep breaths, Savannah. Deep breaths.
As my body came under control, I finished putting on my face and smiled at the sound of Tate humming in the shower.

“I am contacting my father today.” Tate’s voice suddenly bounced off the tiled walls of the shower. I froze on the spot. I’d known this day had been coming, but I hadn’t thought it would have come so randomly. The lip gloss I was applying dropped out of my hands under the shock of his words and I swung around, opening the shower door.

“What? Tate! When? How?”

“I decided at about four thirty this morning when you fell back asleep in my arms. I was happy, peaceful, and completely at ease. I want to feel that all the time and I can’t when I have this cloud over me. I am texting him when I get to Red Velvet and asking him to meet me today.”

“Are you sure?” I whispered, fear creeping slowly through me.

I watched as he swallowed hard, and for a split second, I witnessed doubt flash over his face. “Yeah. I have to Sav.”

I nodded and moved back towards the vanity. I had no clue what to do. No matter what, I would be there for him. I would stand beside him through thick and thin. But what scared me the most was the uncertainty of it all. What explanation was Tate going to receive? What possible lies or truths was he going to be given? Was his heart strong enough for what he was going to face?

Without another word from Tate about his father, we continued our morning ritual. Coffee and Lucky Charms for Tate, hot chocolate for me, and my ‘devil’s blood on toast’ as Tate liked to call it—AKA vegemite on toast. It was domestic bliss at its best. It almost felt too good to be true, and that’s what unnerved me about the whole meeting with Tate’s father. It was selfish, I know, but I didn’t want anything to wreck what we had. I finally had my guy, I finally was able to give him what he craved, and I didn’t want anyone else to destroy that.

Once I had enough food in me to feed a small football team, I grabbed my bag and followed Tate towards the door. Tate dressed head to toe in black, the Red Velvet shirt fitting close to his body and pants snug against his biteable arse.
Stop thinking about fucking, Savannah
. Seriously, my hormones felt like they were ignited one hundred billion percent. I smoothed out my knee-length grey skirt and played with the collar of my shirt as Tate grabbed his keys and wallet before we moved out of our apartment and through the building to the car park.

After he opened my door for me like the perfect gentleman, it was all shattered as he slapped my arse hard and smirked. “This is the first time we have ever gone to work together.”

“Aren’t we just a couple of business-savvy people?” I laughed softly.

Tate climbed into the driver’s seat, and within seconds, we were pulling out into the morning rush of traffic and heading towards Red Velvet. The unease of the day ahead suddenly filled the space around us. Engulfing, swallowing, and strangling every miniscule piece of hope we had succumbed to our little bubble. For the past twelve hours, we had been using sex, words, and our bodies as distractions for what lay ahead of us—firstly the shoot with Chelsea and now with the uncertainty of Tate meeting his father.

Knowing that Tate was about to open up the wounds he had been trying to cover for years scared me. I was frightened about what this could do to him, but I couldn’t let him see my fear. He needed my strength—strength I was fearful I was losing at a rapid rate. I had witnessed firsthand the strong, fearless Tate Connors slowly disappear before me. It had been the way he’d lost focus on everything around him as his mind took him through some of the worst times of his life and the way I’d watched in heartbreak as a single tear had formed in the corner of his eyes that he would quickly swipe away before anyone noticed. I had felt the shakes of his body as a nightmare took over him in the early hours of the morning. He had always been my strength. I had needed him to be my strength, but slowly he had been losing it all.

“Are you okay to come with me this afternoon?” His voice softened as he spoke, shooting a quick look of begging towards me. I shifted in my seat to face him as much as the seatbelt would allow.

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

“Thank you for understanding why I have to do this.”

“I just need you to promise me one thing?”

“Anything.”

“Don’t shut me out. If you feel like you can’t talk to anyone, remember you can always talk to me. There is nothing you could say that would push me away. We are in this together, right?”

“I don’t want you to see me break, Sav.” His voice broke under his words.

“That’s what we do. We pick up each other’s pieces when we break and put them back together in our own special way. Let me pick up your broken pieces, Tate. Let me make you whole again.”

T
HE MOMENT
we arrived at Red Velvet, the craziness began. I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye to Tate before my arm was grabbed and I was pulled to the back of the bar. The space around me was a hustle of models, photographers, makeup artists, and designers. I stood still, letting it all soak in as the enormity of the day hit. This was the first shoot I would manage. The trust Mr. Davenport had in me was almost too much. I opened up my bag, pulled out my iPad, and began scrolling through the schedule.

Hands wrapped around my waist and lips pressed on my cheek, I spun around. Jack stood before me dressed in his Red Velvet uniform with a smirk on his face.

“Ready to run the shit out of this photo shoot, Sav?”

“Thanks for doing this, Jack. It’s pretty unprofessional of me but—”

“Don’t even continue. You are my girl, Sav. I got your back. Always.”

A high-pitched shriek took over all sound in my ears and I groaned loudly. She was here. An hour late. Jack scoffed beside me before taking off towards Tate’s office and slipping in through the door. I wished I could hide in there all day. Taking a deep breath, I lifted my eyes from the iPad in my hand and looked towards where the shriek had come from.

Chelsea was standing near the door with a monster of a man beside her. My laughter rumbled deep with me when realization hit. She had brought a bodyguard. The bitch had brought a bodyguard to the shoot. Her eyes met mine across the room before she huddled closely to him and pointed towards me.
She has got to be fucking kidding me.
Her eyes broke from mine and moved to something or someone behind me.

Blake had arrived.

My smile took over my face as I took him in. He truly was a gorgeous specimen of man. His tattooed-covered arms, his blue eyes, his strong jaw, and his messy hair only increased the sexiness of his rock-star appeal. Blake Ryan. He was the kind of guy women flocked to but who intimidated with a single glance.

“Hey, Sav,” he said shyly, his eyes darting around the room. His face clouded when he found Chelsea. “Why the fuck does she have a bodyguard with her?”

“Clearly, I am more of a threat than I realized. Look at my guns, Blake.” I flexed my nonexistent biceps in his direction and winked. “You should be scared too.”

“You are a fucking pussycat, Sav. This tough-girl exterior doesn’t work on me.”

“Ssshhh! Don’t tell anyone my secret.” I pushed him slightly and turned at the sound of someone clearing his voice behind me. Tate. “I’m tough, aren’t I, Tate? Tough as nails.”

He rolled his eyes at me and shifted his attention to Blake, who looked on nervously. Their brief moment in the boardroom was the first time they had seen each other since New York. I had a lot to be thankful for when it came to Blake, and I hoped Tate understood that. Blake was the one who had checked in on me and taken me away from the drama that had unfolded, the one who had bought me hot chocolate and sat and watched me cry over my loss of Tate. It had been Blake. My friend.

Tate moved ever so slowly towards me until his hand slightly grazed mine. I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards me until I could wrap my arm around his waist. His lips fell to the side of my forehead and I felt him relax instantly.